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CHAPLINSKY v. STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

 Supreme Court
315 U.S. 568
62 S.Ct. 766
86 L.Ed. 1031
CHAPLINSKY
v.
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
No. 255.
Argued Feb. 5, 1942.
Decided March 9, 1942.
Mr. Hayden C. Covington, of Brooklyn, N.Y., for appellant.
Mr. Frank R. Kenison, of Conway, N.H., for appellee.
Mr. Justice MURPHY delivered the opinion of the Court.
1
Appellant, a member of the sect known as Jehovah's Witnesses, was convicted in the
municipal court of Rochester, New Hampshire, for violation of Chapter 378, Section
2, of the Public Laws of New Hampshire: 'No person shall address any offensive,
derisive or annoying word to any other person who is lawfully in any street or other
public place, nor call him by any offensive or derisive name, nor make any noise or
exclamation in his presence and hearing with intent to deride, offend or annoy him, or
to prevent him from pursuing his lawful business or occupation.'
2
The complaint charged that appellant 'with force and arms, in a certain public place in
said city of Rochester, to wit, on the public sidewalk on the easterly side of Wakefield
Street, near unto the entrance of the City Hall, did unlawfully repeat, the words
following, addressed to the complainant, that is to say, 'You are a God damned
racketeer' and 'a damned Fascist and the whole government of Rochester are Fascists
or agents of Fascists' the same being offensive, derisive and annoying words and
names'.
3
Upon appeal there was a trial de novo of appellant before a jury in the Superior Court.
He was found guilty and the judgment of conviction was affirmed by the Supreme
Court of the State. 91 N.H. 310, 18 A.2d 754.
4
By motions and exceptions, appellant raised the questions that the statute was invalid
under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States in that it
placed an unreasonable restraint on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and
freedom of worship, and because it was vague and indefinite. These contentions were
overruled and the case comes here on appeal.
5
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There is no substantial dispute over the facts. Chaplinsky was distributing the
literature of his sect on the streets of Rochester on a busy Saturday afternoon.
Members of the local citizenry complained to the City Marshal, Bowering, that
Chaplinsky was denouncing all religion as a 'racket'. Bowering told them that
Chaplinsky was lawfully engaged, and then warned Chaplinsky that the crowd was
getting restless. Some time later a disturbance occurred and the traffic officer on duty
at the busy intersection started with Chaplinsky for the police station, but did not
inform him that he was under arrest or that he was going to be arrested. On the way
they encountered Marshal Bowering who had been advised that a riot was under way
and was therefore hurrying to the scene. Bowering repeated his earlier warning to
Chaplinsky who then addressed to Bowering the words set forth in the complaint.
6
Chaplinsky's version of the affair was slightly different. He testified that when he met
Bowering, he asked him to arrest the ones responsible for the disturbance. In reply
Bowering cursed him and told him to come along. Appellant admitted that he said the
words charged in the complaint with the exception of the name of the Deity.
7
Over appellant's objection the trial court excluded as immaterial testimony relating to
appellant's mission 'to preach the true facts of the Bible', his treatment at the hands of
the crowd, and the alleged neglect of duty on the part of the police. This action was
approved by the court below which held that neither provocation nor the truth of the
utterance would constitute a defense to the charge.
8
It is now clear that 'Freedom of speech and freedom of the press, which are protected
by the First Amendment from infringement by Congress, are among the fundamental
personal rights and liberties which are protected by the Fourteenth Amendment from
invasion by state action'. Lovell v. City of Griffin, 303 U.S. 444, 450, 58 S.Ct. 666,
668, 82 L.Ed. 949.1 Freedom of worship is similarly sheltered. Cantwell v.
Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296, 303, 60 S.Ct. 900, 903, 84 L.Ed. 1213, 128 A.L.R. 1352.
9
Appellant assails the statute as a violation of all three freedoms, speech, press and
worship, but only an attack on the basis of free speech is warranted. The spoken, not
the written, word is involved. And we cannot conceive that cursing a public officer is
the exercise of religion in any sense of the term. But even if the activities of the
appellant which preceded the incident could be viewed as religious in character, and
therefore entitled to the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment, they would not
cloak him with immunity from the legal consequences for concomitant acts
committed in violation of a valid criminal statute. We turn, therefore, to an
examination of the statute itself.
10
Allowing the broadest scope to the language and purpose of the Fourteenth
Amendment, it is well understood that the right of free speech is not absolute at all
times and under all circumstances.2 There are certain well-defined and narrowly
limited classes of speech, the prevention and punishment of which has never been
thought to raise any Constitutional problem.3 These include the lewd and obscene, the
profane, the libelous, and the insulting or 'fighting' words—those which by their very
utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.4 It has been
well observed that such utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and
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are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived
from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.5 'Resort
to epithets or personal abuse is not in any proper sense communication of information
or opinion safeguarded by the Constitution, and its punishment as a criminal act
would raise no question under that instrument.' Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S.
296, 309, 310, 60 S.Ct. 900, 906, 84 L.Ed. 1213, 128 A.L.R. 1352.
11
The state statute here challenged comes to us authoritatively construed by the highest
court of New Hampshire. It has two provisions—the first relates to words or names
addressed to another in a public place; the second refers to noises and exclamations.
The court (91 N.H. 310, 18 A.2d 757) said: 'The two provisions are distinct. One may
stand separately from the other. Assuming, without holding, that the second were
unconstitutional, the first could stand if constitutional.' We accept that construction of
severability and limit our consideration to the first provision of the statute.6
12
On the authority of its earlier decisions, the state court declared that the statute's
purpose was to preserve the public peace, no words being 'forbidden except such as
have a direct tendency to cause acts of violence by the person to whom, individually,
the remark is addressed'.7 It was further said: 'The word 'offensive' is not to be
defined in terms of what a particular addressee thinks. * * * The test is what men of
common intelligence would understand would be words likely to cause an average
addressee to fight. * * * The English language has a number of words and expressions
which by general consent and 'fighting words' when said without a disarming smile. *
* * Such words, as ordinary men know, are likely to cause a fight. So are threatening,
profane or obscene revilings. Derisive and annoying words can be taken as coming
within the purview of the statute as heretofore interpreted only when they have this
characteristic of plainly tending to excite the addressee to a breach of the peace. * * *
The statute, as construed, does no more than prohibit the face-to-face words plainly
likely to cause a breach of the peace by the addressee, words whose speaking
constitute a breach of the peace by the speaker—including 'classical fighting words',
words in current use less 'classical' but equally likely to cause violence, and other
disorderly words, including profanity, obscenity and threats.'
13
We are unable to say that the limited scope of the statute as thus construed
contravenes the constitutional right of free expression. It is a statute narrowly drawn
and limited to define and punish specific conduct lying within the domain of state
power, the use in a public place of words likely to cause a breach of the peace. Cf.
Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296, 311, 60 S.Ct. 900, 906, 84 L.Ed. 1213, 128
A.L.R. 1352; Thornhill v. Alabama, 310 U.S. 88, 105, 60 S.Ct. 736, 745, 84 L.Ed.
1093. This conclusion necessarily disposes of appellant's contention that the statute is
so vague and indefinite as to render a conviction thereunder a violation of due
process. A statute punishing verbal acts, carefully drawn so as not unduly to impair
liberty of expression, is not too vague for a criminal law. Cf. Fox v. Washington, 236
U.S. 273, 277, 35 S.Ct. 383, 384, 59 L.Ed. 573.8
14
Nor can we say that the application of the statute to the facts disclosed by the record
substantially or unreasonably impinges upon the privilege of free speech. Argument is
unnecessary to demonstrate that the appellations 'damn racketeer' and 'damn Fascist'
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are epithets likely to provoke the average person to retaliation, and thereby cause a
breach of the peace.
15
The refusal of the state court to admit evidence of provocation and evidence bearing
on the truth or falsity of the utterances is open to no Constitutional objection. Whether
the facts sought to be proved by such evidence constitute a defense to the charge or
may be shown in mitigation are questions for the state court to determine. Our
function is fulfilled by a determination that the challenged statute, on its face and as
applied, does not contravene the Fourteenth Amendment.
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Affirmed.
1

See also Bridges v. California, 314 U.S. 252, 62 S.Ct. 190, 86 L.Ed. —-, decided
December 8, 1941; Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296, 303, 60 S.Ct. 900, 903, 84
L.Ed. 1213, 128 A.L.R. 1352; Thornhill v. Alabama, 310 U.S. 88, 95, 60 S.Ct. 736,
740, 84 L.Ed. 1093; Schneider v. State of New Jersey, 308 U.S. 147, 160, 60 S.Ct.
146, 150, 84 L.Ed. 155; De Jonge v. Oregon, 299 U.S. 353, 364, 57 S.Ct. 255, 259, 81
L.Ed. 278; Grosjean v. American Press Co., 297 U.S. 233, 243, 56 S.Ct. 444, 446, 80
L.Ed. 660; Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697, 707, 51 S.Ct. 625, 627, 75 L.Ed. 1357;
Stromberg v. California, 283 U.S. 359, 368, 51 S.Ct. 532, 535, 75 L.Ed. 1117, 73
A.L.R. 1484; Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357, 362, 371, 373, 47 S.Ct. 641, 643,
646, 647, 71 L.Ed. 1095; Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652, 666, 45 S.Ct. 625, 629,
69 L.Ed. 1138.

Appellant here pitches his argument on the due process clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment.
2

Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47, 39 S.Ct. 247, 63 L.Ed. 470; Whitney v.

California, 274 U.S. 357, 373, 47 S.Ct. 641, 647, 71 L.Ed. 1095 (Brandeis, J.,
concurring); Stromberg v. California, 283 U.S. 359, 51 S.Ct. 532, 75 L.Ed. 1117, 73
A.L.R. 1484; Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697, 51 S.Ct. 625, 75 L.Ed. 1357; De
Jonge v. Oregon, 299 U.S. 353, 57 S.Ct. 255, 81 L.Ed. 278; Herndon v. Lowry, 301
U.S. 242, 57 S.Ct. 732, 81 L.Ed. 1066; Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S.
296, 60 S.Ct. 900, 84 L.Ed. 1213, 128 A.L.R. 1352.
3

The protection of the First Amendment, mirrored in the Fourteenth, is not limited to

the Blackstonian idea that freedom of the press means only freedom from restraint
prior to publication. Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697, 714, 715, 51 S.Ct. 625, 630, 75
L.Ed. 1357.
4

Chafee, Free Speech in the United States (1941), 149.

5
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Chafee, op. cit., 150.

6

Since the complaint charged appellant only with violating the first provision of the
statute, the problem of Stromberg v. California, 283 U.S. 359, 51 S.Ct. 532, 75 L.Ed.
1117, 73 A.L.R. 1484, is not present.
7

State v. Brown, 68 N.H. 200, 38 A. 731; State v. McConnell, 70 N.H. 294, 47 A. 267.
8

We do not have here the problem of Lanzetta v. New Jersey, 306 U.S. 451, 59 S.Ct.
618, 83 L.Ed. 888. Even if the interpretative gloss placed on the statute by the court
below be disregarded, the statute had been previously construed as intended to
preserve the public peace by punishing conduct, the direct tendency of which was to
provoke the person against whom it was directed to acts of violence. State v. Brown,
1894, 68 N.H. 200, 38 A. 731.

Appellant need not therefore have been a prophet to understand what the statute
condemned. Cf. Herndon v. Lowry, 301 U.S. 242, 57 S.Ct. 732, 81 L.Ed. 1066. See
Nash v. United States, 229 U.S. 373, 377, 33 S.Ct. 780, 781, 57 L.Ed. 1232.